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Travels of the Meandering MooseThe Meandering Moose is a 30-foot behemoth from Winnebago, my home-away-from home for the travel season. Dolphin (my saber-toothed tiger/cat) and Sallie (my defense beagle—ha!) both love going in the RV. After all, at every stop there are new smells, new people to offer adulation and patting, and new opportunities to go for exciting walks! And yes, Dolphin loves to go for walks on his harness and leash.I’m pretty good at driving the Moose, though in wind or traffic it does feel a bit like driving the White House. On long interstates I pop a recorded book in the stereo; otherwise I listen to Christian CDs or radio, and talk with the Lord and the beasties. Last summer, in addition to my regular writing conferences, and the youth group retreat in Estes Park, I did a “time machine” trip. As I said in my Christmas letter: It started with the 100th anniversary celebration of my summer camp: Camp Lake Hubert for Girls, and Camp Lincoln for Boys, in northern Minnesota. Not only was I a camper there in the 50s and 60s, my mother was a camper and counselor at Hubert also. And, my grandparents were directors of the rifle program. At the anniversary weekend, I was proud to be introduced as Chief and Willie’s granddaughter; I was able to shoot a rifle for the first time in over 40 years; amid the evergreens and ghostly birch trees of the Minnesota northwoods I reveled in memories of the happiest times of my childhood. While I was driving the Midwest, I visited four Laura Ingalls Wilder homesites (Little House on the Prairie series), Caddie Woodlawn’s cabin in Wisconsin, the real “Little Brown Church in the Vale” (one of Daddy’s favorite songs), and Paul Bunyan with Babe, his blue ox, striding through Bemidji, Minnesota.
While with friends in St. Louis, I had the fun of seeing two of the houses I grew up in, two of Granny’s homes, and my elementary school.
What a blessing to visit the scenes of these memories! It was very much like having a time machine set to nostalgia. And plans for this summer? Well, we’ll start with the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in May, in Estes Park. Then I’ll dart out to British Columbia, where my friend Shannie’s son is getting married. Oregon Christian Writers summer conference is at the end of July, outside Portland.
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Writing Life“What do you do?” I’m a retired special needs teacher and a free-lance author! “Oh, that’s interesting. What do you write about?” A better question would be, what don’t I write about! I write about my youth group, who did the most marvelous hand-mime (white gloves and black light) to Casting Crowns’ “Who Am I” for Christmas; you can see it on YouTube (Google BCBC and Who Am I). I write about my students—you should have seen Croix and me Sunday (he’s in my 2nd grade Sunday school class), a couple of dancing fools for the Lord, just like David. I write about my pets: Dolphin, a saber-toothed tiger cleverly disguised as a tabby cat. And Sallie, who valiantly warns me of impending danger from bunnies, bicycles, snowplows, overarching branches and bridges, fields of cattle or horses, and cylindrical bales of hay. I write about choir, and Bible study, and my sore hip. I write about my RV travels, and my dream trips. I write about writing. And I write about seeing God’s fingerprints in my day-to-day activities: as I walk the dog, as I watch the clouds and stars, as I plan my day, as I interact with people, as I choose a book to read. The Lord’s always there, if I’ll just look. “Where can I read your stuff?” Well, start with my blog. That gives the most up-to-date state of my thinking, wondering, worrying … It’s called Meandering Moments and can be found at RVTourist.com/blog Keep track of things here, now that my web guru has set it up so I can change the articles by myself. Send me an email, and we can chat!: ElsiDodge@aol.com
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